Client success story
Target Discovery Portal Development
Business Value Delivered: Accelerated Target Identification
Summary: Simplifying Data Access to Accelerate Target Identification
bPrescient spearheaded the design and development of a discovery data portal to allow our client’s scientists to prioritize drug targets, thus reducing the time to identify targets and develop drugs for those targets. This reduced workforce churn among the scientists; in fact, their productivity increased and their work quality improved.
Challenge: Disparate Data from Lab and Computational Efforts
This cancer therapeutics company was leveraging high-throughput lab and computational techniques to identify novel drug targets. However, the amount of information being generated and the large number of potential targets made it difficult to assess the targets and prioritize them for further development. In addition, there was significant public data, such as protein structures and literature, that was also important for assessing a target. Their scientists were finding it difficult to make sense of all the target data, and thus critical business decisions about where to focus the company’s resources were being delayed.
Solution: Target Discovery Portal for Client’s Scientists
The bPrescient team designed a target discovery portal in collaboration with the company’s scientists and informaticians. The portal provides a web interface that allows scientists to browse, filter, and search data about potential targets, including high-throughput proteomics data, in silico target prediction results, and protein structure data. The portal also provides ways to rank and annotate targets so the team can collaborate on prioritizing targets.
The bPrescient team then implemented the portal, starting with early versions developed by the company’s team, using agile software development methodologies to continually prioritize new features and deliver value for the users. The development team included full-stack developers, user experience and interface designers, and testing and QA resources. The platform was implemented on AWS using microservices and multiple back-end data stores to allow for flexible improvements over time as the system grows and improves.
Outcome: Data Democratization Accelerates Target Discovery
The Target Discovery Portal is being used by the company’s scientists to review and prioritize targets and continues to be enhanced with new features and data types as they are identified by users. The portal is used across the organization, including management, science, and informatics teams and provides frequent updates so that their users can keep up with recent in-house and public data when making decisions about resourcing and priorities for the business.
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